Replay video in Michigan Stadium

After a full year of our big new scoreboards, some of the problems are more glaring than ever.

Stadium sound = improved. It couldn't be anything other than an improvement, over the 1950's technology that previously existed until 2008, and the "pardon our dust" inadequacies in '08 and '09.

Video quality = nice. They are big boards. We have two. Nice.

The rest leaves a lot to be desired. I am beginning to have a hard time believeing it is just me, when I find the stats column so hard to read; I used to think that I was just so used to the old boards with analog-lit digits, that it was just old habits. After a year-plus, I no longer think so. They really ought to be thinking about a redesign.

Which brings me to my big gripe - video replays of football action. They are about as bad as they could possibly be. I don't know how much of it is deliberately bad; some of it certainly is. The specific complaints:

Replay that is essentially a kind of isolation-view on individual players. Lots of smart football fans complain about standard television video, which never shows all 22 players on the field, as is the case with game film used by coaches. Michigan Stadium video replay actually goes in the opposite direction, with video that shows almost nothing more than one player carrying the football. A nice Wall Street Journal writeup on "All-22 film": http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203716204577015903150731054.html

Inefficient use of the boards. Our new scoreboards, all-digital of course, were supposed to be a big advantage in that they could show monster-sized HD video and then switch back to score-and-stats at the click of a mouse. And so they do. If it were up to me, I'd do more split-screen views, with the numbers column remaining up and part of the screen doing video and replay. You can save the monster-view for big replays on disputed calls, etc.

From where I sat, I thought it wasn't a catch, but I agree with Section 1. There is a real paucity of replays and I found myself looking at the scoreboard for down and yards to go info and it does not stand out. At the very least, use different colors. for down and yards to go titles.

That was a specific part of the Stadium renovation and the inevitable scoreboard replaecment. With at least some Stadium-produced video content. (Celebrity/honoree guests, fans with painted faces in the front rows, pregame flyovers, rocketmen, eagles, parachutes, etc.)

I wondered; "maybe B-2 crews can't be named; like active-duty flight crews flying missions in official theatres of operations." Then I saw four of them in the Blue Lot, with their name tags on and offered them a beer which they didn't accept.

If I am wrong (I looked for and could not find a link to any B1G source), so be it. All that does, is add to the pressure directly placed on Michigan Stadium staff over this issue. If indeed we are not getting all of the replays, and good replays, because Michigan Stadium staff aren't giving it to us, then there is all the more reason for this thread. And to put pressure on them to change.

Having been to games in East Lansing and Madison, I know that they show a lot more replay than does Michigan. OSU and Northwestern only a little more. I can't think of anywhere in the conference that does less video replay work than Michigan.

My rule is, whatever the MMB plays is fine. The Michigan Marching Band can play Led Zepplin, or Glen Miller, or R.E.M., and it is fine by me. Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline in Michigan Stadium makes me want to shoot out the speakers.

Yes, they didn't play the most of the ones you mentioned -- I remember hearing Sweet Caroline and wincing, may have been the MMB though -- but there was a whole slew of terrible new irrelevant piped-in JaMz, especially during the second half.

There was some, but it was still an improvement over the last couple of seasons. Last year we seemed to have about a 50-50 split between MMB and PA music, whereas yesterday it was more like 75-25 in favor of the MMB.

Those had one advantage over our current setup: you could always catch the score when you looked up at the scoreboard. When our current scoreboards are on full-screen mode, they literally don't show you the score (or any other game information). That should never be the case.

Hilarious. But there were many people around me who noted this. The scoreboard would go to full-screen mode and keep it there for literally 2-3 minute stretches, during which no game information (score, time, down, yardage, timeouts, etc.) was visible anywhere to spectators. That's not a good use of technology.

Moreover, most people attend the game in person for a reason. I don't need pictures of what is currently occuring on the field, I can see it with my own damn eyes, thank you very much. Replays are good in some circumstances, but I don't need to see a two yard gain on a run between the tackles three times over. They need to keep the same information up, in the same places on the screen for the whole game. I always lose track of where the relevant information is because the screen keeps changing their position too quickly.

There is actually too much of what you don't like -- video of nondescript plays just running on like the boards were great big television sets tuned into the game we are watching live. (Except they get turned off on all of the good replays.) I don't like that any more than you do.

And there is too little of what really is meaningful for people there, live -- full screen, hi-def video replay of disputed or controversial calls, and video that does anything other than spotlighting one single player doing something obvious that everybody already saw. People watching their tv's at home get that. Why should Stadium patrons not get that?

The kind of video that I am talking about, is the kind of video that I think Stadium officials, for unclear reasons, do not want to show us.

Last year in Spartan Stadium, we did not see the video of Gholston wrenching Denard Robinson's face mask. And there were no replays of Marcus Rush's injury-producing personal foul on Denard. I suppose that I wouldn't expect any different there, in their building. But if those same plays happened in Michigan Stadium; well...

And that raises another technical point to be introduced and that is whether, and how, the Stadium boards might be able to show video from the television feed, or whether they are constrained to use Stadium-originated content. That's really a much bigger deal, that we haven't yet discussed. There is a technical answer on that one, that I won't pretend to know.

When I saw the being built from behind I thought the whole thing would be video board. When it wasn't I was surprised they make it look even smaller by shrinking the screen proportions to get the stats up there. Those so much wasted space on the sides and bottom...couldn't the scores and such gone there?

Those scoreboards were classic. I'd love if they could bring them back as secondary scoreboards. (I agree that they need to figure out a way to always display the score/time/down/yard line information, whether it's on the current boards or new ones.)

To your first point, I agree. I wish they would replay plays once the review of the play was already under question. I understand that you don't want to do it if there hasn't been a challenge or an official review because you don't want to prompt the other coach or officials to do so. But I do with they would show us more replays of important events.

I haven't noticed a huge problem with the plays they do show. During the game, if I can't see well enough, I find the video screens provide a great alternative.

I disagree almost 100%. I wish they would make the video larger and the stat column smaller. As it stands, a huge portion of the screen is essentially wasted space. They could take all of the stats and put them in the smaller boards underneath the big boards and have enough space to show what is needed. If they wanted to take up a small bar at the bottom of the screen + the lower one, that would be fine as well. They could even increase the size of the font they use so it's easier to see. There's a ton of space that's just simply wasted in the graphic they currently use. Why have huge HD video boards if you're going to waste them on fairly static graphics? You could do that with a non-digital board for all I care.

The stats/ score needs to have it's own dedicated board. Whether it be video or like the old boards, something should be done. If a new board can be put in outside the stadium and point at Stadium Blvd, then something can be done to make it a better viewing experience

has nothing to do with the video, per say, but rather the audio/speakers on the new video boards. Is it just me, or did anyone else notice the imbalance of sound in the stadium, with only sound coming from the north scoreboards, and none from the south scoreboards??...Then, to my surprise, I noticed speakers only on top of the north video boards and none on the south. This clearly explains why all the sound only comes from one end, but why in the world would they want it set up that way? I'm in section 20 ,and have been for a very long time, and yesterday was the first time I ever noticed the sound disparity issues. It had the car radio effect when your sitting in the back and the driver accidently changes the speakers to 'front' and you can't hear anything but muffled sounds as a result. Thoughts MGoBloggers?!

If speakers were anywhere other than on the scoreboards (aiming lengthwise down the centerline of the Stadium) there would be bad echoes bouncing off the glass of the two concourses. And if you had speakers at both ends, there would be a kind of reverb effect when the sound from one set of scoreboards hit you before the other. The straight solution is to put all of the sound in one end. I presume that the north end is the obvious choice for speaker placement because that is where the students are (MOAR NOYZE!) and the sound blowing through to the south bothers fewer people outside the stadium, since that is just golf course and Pioneer that way.

the scores of other games often enough. I was there yesterday and they only reported/showed scores of other games twice. I said this all last year and I'll say it again, they should use the bottom section of the scorebaord that usually just says "MICHIGAN" through most of the game as a 'ticker' style scrolling scoreboard, continuously showing Top 25/B1G and games of local interest scores.

Since they block wireless signals, you can't really use a smartphone in the stadium so you can't get other scores.

Believe it or not Brandon, many of us actually care about other games besides the one we are attending.

And they stop selling the radios that gave us the game broadcast so I could hear the play-by-play from the radio in real-time not delayed. The AD seems to be power hungry.

There's no need to display the stats ALL THE TIME. During plays and during replays the full scoreboard should be used. In between plays and at all other times, the stats can be shown. Also, why aren't the stats just shown on the bottom. Go 16:9 aspect ratio and use the full width of the screen for video, and put the stats under the video on the bottom.

Eventually, they should consider using the speaker area as more video space reserved solely for stats. Put UM stats on one side of the big screen and Visitor stats on the other, use the full big board MOAR!!!!!!